Counter-Revolution Takes the Offensive

“JACOBINS WITHOUT THE PEOPLE”

Published:PravdaNo. 68, June 10 (May 28), 1917.

      Published according to the text inPravda.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1964,

      Moscow,Volume 24,

      pages533-535.Translated:Isaacs BernardTranscription\Markup:B. BagginsandD. WaltersPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      1999

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.

Thecounter-revolution has mustered strength enough to assume
      the offensive. With the aid of the Narodnik and Menshevik
      ministers the capitalists are organising an assault on liberty.

Thedecision to disband the “45th, 46th, 47th and 52nd
      regiments” of the 12th and 13th divisions, the decision to
      “prosecute” the “instigators” (what an odd word! Are
      “instigators” more important than “perpetrators” in war?), and
      side by side with this, the news of thearrestof
      Ensign Krusserfor a speech made at a meetingin
      Skuliany, and finally, the Provisional Government’s extremely
      insulting tone in regard to
Kronstadt[1](for
      example, that orders “must
      be obeyed without question”—is that the way to talk to
      citizens who, so far, have not been accused of anything, not of
      asingleact of disobedience?)—all this, taken
      together, and highlighted by that gloating defender of the
      counter-revolutionary capitalists,Rech(“the
      government at last has spoken up in the language of
      authority”)—all this clearly points to the fact that the
      counter-revolution is taking the offensive.

This“offensive” creates a strange impression. At the front the
      instigators, those guilty of “inciting to insubordination”, are
      arraigned before the court, and four regiments are “disbanded”
      (four out of the two divisions’ eight regiments mentioned in the
      telegram, although, according to the same telegram reported inIzvestiaof the Petrograd Soviet No. 76, onlyoneregiment out of the eight “came out in full force”
      and another one “almost in full force”). If you gentlemen of the
      government inform the people that you are disbanding certain
      regiments, if you find this useful, if you allow atelegram
      about it to go through, then why don’t you tell us, clearly and
      plainly, in at least a few lines, what the reasons for
      insubordination were on the part of those you are prosecuting?

Oneof two things, gentlemen: either you work in silence—you
      have a military censorship—and do not bother about
      informing the public, or bothering it with your reports; or, if
      you do decide to keep the public informed, then tell it what
      it’s all about, give it the why and the wherefore of the case,
      let it know whether the people you are prosecuting are guilty of
      insubordination on a particular or general point.

Vaguenessis a bad thing.

Inthe case of Krusser’s arrest, everything is quite clear. To
      hustle a man off to prisonfor a speech he has made at a
      meetingis hardly reasonable. Does it not signify that you
      have simply lost your heads? Why, you Cadets and Rights who
      share the cabinet with the Narodniks and Mensheviks have ten if
      not a hundred times more newspaper circulation than your
      opponents! And with such superiority in chief propaganda
      weapons, you hustle a man off to prison for “a speech at a
      meeting”! Have you gone berserk with fear, gentlemen?

Weare not opposed to the use of revolutionary force in the
      interests of the nation’s majority.

WhenPlekhanov the other day mentioned the Jacobins of 1793 and
      theirforthrightstatement that “such-and-such persons
      are enemies of the people”, we thought in this connection:No partyshould draw the line at imitating the Jacobins
      of 1793 on this point cited by Plekhanov.

Thetrouble is that there are Jacobins and Jacobins. A witty
      French saying, which Plekhanov was fond of quoting twenty years
      ago, when he was still a socialist, pokes fun at the “Jacobins
      without the people” (jacobins moins le peuple).

Thehistorical greatness of the true Jacobins, the Jacobins of
      1793, is that they were “Jacobinswiththe people”,
      with the revolutionarymajorityof the nation, with therevolutionaryadvanced classes oftheirtime.

Theyare ridiculous and pitiful, the “Jacobins without the
      people”, they who merely pose as Jacobins, who areafraidto declare clearly, openly and for all to hear
      that the exploiters, the oppressors of the people, the servants
      of the monarchy in all countries, the defenders of the
      landowners in all countries, are enemies of the people.

Youhave studied history, Messrs. Milyukovs and
      Plekhanovs—can you deny that thegreatJacobins of
      1793 were not afraid to denounce precisely the members of the
      reactionary exploitingminorityof their time as
      enemies of the people? Precisely the members of the reactionaryclassesof their time?

You,the present government, its backers, Its defenders, its
      servants—can you say openly, clearly, and officially whichclassesyou consider “enemies of the people”all
      over the world?

Buthow can you! You are Jacobins without the people. You are
      merely posing as Jacobins. You look more like ordinary
      representatives of ordinary landowner and capitalist reaction.

Workersand soldiers! All toiling people! The counter revolution
      of the landowners and capitalists is assuming the offensive. Not
      a single vote for asinglegovernment party,for
      any parties participating in the government!

Votefor the Bolsheviks!

[1]Thereference is to two decrees of the Provisional Government
      published May 24 and 27 (June 6 and 9), 1917. The first stated
      that “the Provisional Government considers the situation in
      Kronstadt to be threatening and absolutely intolerable”. The
      second made it known “to all the citizens of Kronstadt that the
      orders of the Provisional Government are to be obeyed without
      question”.

Thesailors, soldiers and workersof the military workshops in Kronstadt—a fortress
      protecting Petrograd from the sea and the chief rear base of the
      Baltic fleet—played a very important part in preparing the
      victory of the October armed uprising in Petrograd. The
      Kronstadt Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies followed the
      lead of the Bolsheviks from the very first day of its
      existence. This was due to the revolutionary traditions of
      Kronstadt (the mutinies of 1905 and 1906, the uprising on the
      battle-shipGangutin 1915) and to the existence
      of a strong Bolshevik organisation there which carried on
      revolutionary work all through the war.

Owingto the conflict between the Kronstadt Soviet and the
      Commissar of the Provisional Government, Pepelyaev, a
      resolution moved by the non-party section of the Soviet and
      supported by the Bolsheviks was passed on May 17(30), 1917
      abolishing the office of Government Commissar and vesting all
      power in the Kronstadt Soviet. This resolution stated that the
      sole authority in the town of Kronstadt was the Soviet of
      Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, which, on affairs of state
      concern, entered into direct contact with the Petrograd Soviet
      of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.

Thebourgeois, S.R. and Menshevik press raised a hue and cry against
      the men of
      Kronstadt and the Bolsheviks, declaring that Russia was on the
      verge of collapse and anarchy, that Kronstadt was seceding, and
      so on.

Adelegation from the Petrograd Soviet (Chkheidze, Gotz and
      others) followed by one from the Provisional Government
      (Ministers Skobelev and Tsereteli) went out to settle the
      Kronstadt incident. The latter succeeded in getting a decision
      passed through the Kronstadt Soviet arranging a compromise
      settlement, under which the Commissar was to be elected by the
      Soviet and endorsed by the Provisional Government. In addition,
      a general political resolution was adopted in which the
      Kronstadt Soviet declared that it recognised the authority of
      the Provisional Government, but that this “recognition does not,
      of course, exclude criticism and the desire that revolutionary
      democracy should create a new organisation of central authority
      by vesting all power in the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
      Deputies.” The resolution also expressed the hope that the
      Bolsheviks would succeed in achieving thisby means of ideological influence. It ended with a
      strong protest against attempts to ascribe to the Kronstadt
      Bolsheviks “the intention of separating Kronstadt from the rest
      of Russia.”

Leninconsidered the revolutionary action in Kronstadt to have been
      premature. The negotiations by the Bolshevik group of the
      Kronstadt Soviet to settle the conflict and the further work of
      the Kronstadt Party organisation were directed by Lenin.